During Ramadan, A Rise In Business As Faithful Break Fast

Ramadan – the Islamic month of fasting from the break of dawn to sunset – is known as a time of restraint from food and drink for Muslims around the world.

But despite the lack of daytime meals during the fasting season that started July 9 this year, there's a surge in business for grocers who serve Connecticut's 150,000 Muslims – 35,000 in central Connecticut, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

On Tuesday evening at Cosmos International, a West Hartford store that sells South Asian and Middle Eastern groceries, Hazim Alnuami, 25, stocked up on beans and yogurt for both his evening meal to break the fast, and his pre-dawn breakfast.

Alnuami, a West Hartford resident, shops every day during Ramadan, compared to the weekly grocery trips he takes the rest of the year.

"In Ramadan I have to do it every day because I need fresh stuff," he said. "When you don't eat all the day, you need to eat something good."

Cosmos is Alnuami's go-to grocery store. On the Tuesday evening that he's shopping, the store starts to get busy around 5:30 p.m. with customers stopping in after work to buy last-minute groceries for the breaking of the fast, which, these days, is just after 8:20 p.m.

Cosmos orders its Ramadan groceries several weeks before it starts – otherwise, its wholesale suppliers sell out for the whole month, according to the owners. The store also makes sure to order enough because the quantity that customers buy triples or quadruples, said Henrietta Phibbs, daughter of Cosmos owner Ada Ustjanauskas.

The most popular item is dates. Typically, Cosmos stocks its shelves with five cases of packaged dates that last two weeks. During Ramadan, it restocks two to three times a week.

"They fly off the shelf faster than any item I've seen in my life," Phibbs said.

Cosmos also carries 11-pound cases of unpackaged dates which the store typically breaks up by the pound to sell, but during Ramadan, entire cases are sold – sometimes five to eight per day.

Other popular items include kabobs, sweet syrups to add to milk or water, custard powder and seasonings — ingredients for traditional meals.

"It's a pretty festive time," Phibbs said. "Our customers are generally a happy bunch anyway, but around Ramadan people are more polite, especially if it's time to break the fast. A lot of them come in just before they break their fast and they're all in a good mood because they're going to eat something special."

The uptick in business during Ramadan appears to be a nationwide trend, according to the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America.

"We found that people, during the month of Ramadan, are consuming more, hosting more – there's a whole economy associated with grocery sales and food product sales," the council's Asma Ahad said. "Ramadan is not just about fasting but the whole culture that goes with fasting."

For example, she said, most mosques and community centers will host dinners, which drive up the sales at local shops.

At Tangiers, an international grocery store in West Hartford, the family owned market restocks shelves a few times a week during Ramadan, while it typically restocks a couple of times a month the rest of the year.

Ramadan best-sellers include dates, bread, yogurt, grains, rice and lentils, according to Zach Latif, a member of the family that owns the store.

"The hungrier people are, the more they want to buy," said Zach's brother, Win Latif. "Everything looks good when you're hungry."

The store sells groceries and frozen food, as well as prepared foods for dining in or takeout. More people also stop by for gyros, falafel and stuffed grape leaves, among other dishes, to break the fast.

Pastries are another popular item during Ramadan. A row of baklava lines Tangiers' front wall – plain, chocolate, pistachio and other varieties.

Although Tangiers may not get more customers compared to the rest of the year, it gets the same people buying a lot more. Average spending ranges greatly between customers, Win Latif said.

Kassim Gahmi, owner of Almadina Halal Supermarket in New Britain, said the store sees two to three times as much business compared to the regular year, which he attributes to the communal spirit of Ramadan.

"The purpose of fasting for the month is so everybody can have the same feeling as people who are starving and have no food," he said. "They cook food and share food with people that don't have any, and buy gifts and merchandise to give to them, too."

Almadina offers Mediterranean groceries, frozen foods and catering, which is also a lucrative business during Ramadan.

There's a strong community aspect during the month, Gahmi said. At the nearby New Britain mosque, for example, Muslims gather to break their fast together in crowds of more than 100 people.

Gahmi's most popular items are similar to those of Cosmos and Tangiers: lots of dates, meat and sweets.

And though he doesn't hire extra employees to help out, his kids are off from school during the summer and able to help with the increased store traffic.

For Alnuami, his bill usually comes to at least $15 a day, typically more per day than he spends the rest of the year. But he's not hung up on the cost.